Mr. Fountain Valley pageant: Contestants go all out (or off)

There was dancing. There was booze. And there was nudity – oh, the nudity.

A who's who of Fountain Valley came out in force for the second annual Mr. Fountain Valley Pageant April 12 at the Recreation Center, where five pillars of the community stripped, danced and sang for charity – and the right to be the next king of the city.

"I'm very excited right now," said Franck Bideau, who took the crown and was one of five contestants who helped raise more than $41,000 for five nonprofit organizations. "It was scary at first, but once you hear the music you get into it."

"The event was stellar, remarkable," said Mark Nix, executive director for the Fountain valley Community Foundation, which put on the event. "This is a tight-knit group, but they are a fun group. People love to come out and have a great time and they want to have a reason to have a great time. And tonight's reason was to support five great organizations."

Those five organizations are the Fountain Valley Educational Foundation (represented by Bideau), Kiwanis (Bank e), Community Foundation (Flores), Boys and Girls Club of Fountain Valley (Groeneveld) and the Fountain Valley Regional Hospital Foundation (Kim).

Even though pageant night was a raucous affair, it was actually the culmination of a months-long campaign where the five candidates tried to raise as much money for their respective organizations. Eighty percent of the scoring was based on who earned enough votes, with each vote being $1.

Each event was a crowd-pleaser, especially the swimsuit contest, where Groeneveld walked on stage in an astronaut's helmet and Speedo and Flores dropped his robe to reveal peacock briefs. Bideau, born in France, wore a Speedo with the French flag in the back.

But what got the crowd buzzing – and possibly gave Bideau the final push to victory – was when he came out dressed as Celine Dion and lip-synched one of the Canadian pop star's songs.

The audience, with empty wine bottles strewn over the table, roared when Bideau walked on stage in a gold sequin dress. Groeneveld, meanwhile, performed a striptease with a group of friends to Big and Rich's "Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)."

"The guys were great," said Jeanne Hexem-Thomas, the event's main coordinator and emcee. She performed with the contestants during the opening dance number – done to the theme of "The Pink Panther" – donning a skin-tight Pink Panther one-piece. "It's not a straight-laced event, but it's still done very classily."

After all the events were finished, the five men returned to the stage together and waited to hear who won: Second runner-up, Flores. First runner-up, Groeneveld. When the crowd heard Bideau's name, they erupted in applause and last year's winner, Franck McDowell, wrapped the rope around the French chef-turned real estate broker and put the crown on his head.

For the next year, Bideau, like his predecessor, will be Fountain Valley royalty. Vivent longtemps le roi!